Make Rojava Green Again Picture Gallery February-April 2020

After the first snow since four years in February, spring has come to Rojava and we are happy that we could start again our ecological work at the internationalist commune. In the last months we were not able to do practical work because of the war, so there‘s a lot to do.

In the last weeks we took care of the older trees by painting and cutting them and replacing trees, which made it not through the winter. We also made cuttings from the willows down the river and built a greenhouse for the new cuttings, so we can start in autumn with our plan to reforest the riverbed next to the academy.

We started to explore the Internationalist Commune site with a book about wild edible plants in the Near East, that some friends from Europe made for us. In spring, you can see all over Rojava women, who are harvesting green plants e.g. Tûsîk (watercress), Xerdel (white mustard), Xîvar (Syrian thistle), Tolik (dwarf mallow). That are some of the plants that we have also at our site and that we are also harvesting to put them into salad or cook them.

It‘s still unclear whether the corona virus has started to spread in Rojava yet, but as a precaution a curfew has been put in place, asking people to stay at home. Because of that also most of the members of the Internationalist Commune are staying here at the moment, which means we have a lot of time and helping hands for the ecological works.

On April 4, we celebrated the 71st birthday of Abdullah Öcalan by planting 71 oak trees at the Internationalist Commune site. It‘s a tradition that on this day all over Kurdistan and over the world in the Kurdish diaspora and other internationalist groups trees are getting planted as a symbol for life and renewal.

The last days it was raining a lot, so the river by the academy had more water and because of the flood a lot of trash has been coming down the river. When the weather was better, we made all together a big cleaning offensive.

Once again, we want to take the chance to thank all the people who supported our work in the last months. Only with your help is the work here possible!

Co-operation in Mesopotamia is a project from the Solidarity Economy Association.

Solidarity Economy Association Ltd. Is a not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder co-operative company limited by guarantee. It is registered under the Companies Act 2006 in England and Wales. Registered number 10733713.